Marcelo Moretto de Souza (born 10 May 1978), known as Moretto, is a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Early years

Born in

Eldorado, Mato Grosso do Sul Eldorado is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Pau ...

, Moretto played four years professionally in his home country, representing São José, Portuguesa,

Londrina Londrina (, literally "Little London") is a city located in the north of the state of Paraná, South Region, Brazil, and is away from the state capital, Curitiba. It is the second largest city in the state and fourth largest in the southern regi ...

Sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

, Brasiliense and 15 de Novembro. In 2003, aged 25, he decided to try his luck in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, joining

S.C. Salgueiros Sport Comércio e Salgueiros (), commonly known as simply Salgueiros, is a Portuguese multi-sports club from the city of Porto, in the northern region of the country. Founded on 8 December 1911, in the parish of Paranhos, it is mostly known f ...

in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

and making a very good first impression during the pre-season; however, facing serious economical crisis, the club was relegated to the

third level Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

and lost all of its professional players. Forced to look for another team, Moretto joined F.C. Felgueiras (also in division two). There, he played only eight matches and conceded a total of ten goals but, nevertheless, caught the attention of other sides in the country. In January 2005, Moretto came close playing for

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

and F.C. Penafiel – both in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

– but ended up signing for two years with fellow league club Vitória F.C. to replace

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

-bound

Ricardo Batista Ricardo Jorge Cecília Batista (born 19 November 1986) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays for Casa Pia A.C. as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Club career Fulham Born in Torres Vedras, Lisbo ...

. He soon became the coach's first option while the team performed above all expectations, winning the

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

after beating

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. In 2005–06, Moretto started off the season in Setúbal. They performed well during the first half, with him appearing in 17 matches and conceding only five goals; after enjoying a remarkable success, Vitória was struck by the resignation of their coach

Luís Norton de Matos Luís Maria Cabral Norton de Matos (born 14 December 1953) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a forward, and a manager. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 211 matches and 36 goals over nine seasons, representing in the competitio ...

and a few other players due to unpaid wages, and 2005 ended with the player being the number one goalkeeper of all

European leagues European Leagues (EL) is a sports organization within association football created for growth of professional football in Europe. Its members are the professional football leagues organisations of 29 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark ...

, with the fewest goals conceded per minute played.

Benfica

During the 2005

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

and

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

break in

, a lot was spoken in the press about Moretto's possible transfer to Benfica or

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

. In a controversial move he followed his will and picked Benfica to be his new club after explaining the allegedly "bad behaviour" of both the player's manager and Porto chairmen; Porto officially denied immediate interest in the player, and the transfer cost Benfica

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

1 million whilst he signed for five-and-a-half years. Benfica's interest gained strength as

José Moreira José Filipe da Silva Moreira (born 20 March 1982) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent most of his career with Benfica, appearing in 148 competitive matches and making his debut at only 19. H ...

suffered an injury that would keep him off the pitch for the remainder of the season. Quim, the team's other goalkeeper also suffered an injury, leaving them with only junior Rui Nereu to play both the domestic league and the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

; upon his arrival, Moretto immediately became

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

's number one choice between the posts, even with Quim fully recovered: throughout the rest of the campaign he played on 18 occasions in the league, once in the cup and four times in the Champions League, against reigning champions

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

(conceding no goals) and

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, where he put on a ''

Player of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

'' performance with several saves. Moretto did not have an easy time after joining Benfica because, alternating above-average performances with subpar ones, he suffered from the animosity of the club supporters, which undermined his concentration. As a result, upon the departure of Koeman and arrival of his replacement, Fernando Santos, he was relegated to the role of substitute, with Quim again becoming the starter; during 2006–07 he played only one game, often splitting the bench with Moreira. On 13 July 2007, Moretto agreed to join

AEK Athens F.C. AEK FC ( el, ΠΑΕ A.E.K. ; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; ''Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos'', meaning ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filade ...

on a loan deal. The

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

club had the option to purchase the player at the end of the loan period, which was not activated, and he returned to Benfica for the 2008–09 season.

Late career

On 3 August 2009, Benfica released Moretto from his contract, with the player planning to return to his country. Late in the year he signed with a team he had already represented, Brasiliense in the Série B. In July 2010, however, Moretto returned to Portugal, signing with lowly top tier side

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

for two years. In the following

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, however, he changed teams – and countries – again, joining

Arka Gdynia Morski Związkowy Klub Sportowy Arka Gdynia () is a Polish professional football club, based in Gdynia, Poland, that plays in the Polish I liga. The club was founded as Klub Sportowy Gdynia in 1929. History The history of Arka dates back to ...

from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Personal life

Moretto's younger brother, André (born 1987), was also a footballer and a goalkeeper. He was under contract with Vitória de Setúbal for several years as well, but never represented the first team.

Gustavo Manduca Gustavo Manduca (born 8 June 1980) is a Brazilian former Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward or an Midfielder (association football)#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder, currently a Man ...

, who shared teams with him at Benfica, was Moretto's

brother-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Vitória Setúbal *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

: 2004–05 Benfica *

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

: 2008–09

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moretto, Marcelo 1978 births Living people Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players São José Esporte Clube players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Londrina Esporte Clube players Sport Club do Recife players Brasiliense FC players Avaí FC players América Futebol Clube (MG) players Associação Atlética Portuguesa (RJ) players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players F.C. Felgueiras players S.C. Salgueiros players Vitória F.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers S.C. Olhanense players Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players Ekstraklasa players Arka Gdynia players Miami Dade FC players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States